Is it me you're looking for?

Crooner Lionel Richie. Photo / Supplied

The thousands of Kiwi fans who waited in the pouring rain for hours to see Lionel Richie perform at the Mission Estate Winery concert three weeks ago will struggle to find a silver lining in his no-show.

The superstar is equally disappointed: "For the first time in my career I was unable to perform due to seriously inclement weather. The promoter rightfully cancelled the show because of the conditions and the risk to my band, the crew and the audience. It was heartbreaking for me to travel so far to achieve so little," he tells View.

But, looking on the bright side, there's a chance something good may come out of his fleeting visit to New Zealand.

Richie was intent on a catch-up with his former band-mate from The Commodores, Ronald La Pread, who lives in Auckland.

He isn't giving away too much just yet, but he may be one step closer to reforming the legendary Motown act.

Having the distinction of being the only songwriter in the modern pop era to write nine number one songs over nine consecutive years - including Three Times A Lady in 1978, and Say You, Say Me, in 1986 - 59-year-old Richie knows reforming a group as great as The Commodores is a risk.

"It's almost like what Paul McCartney said about The Beatles - you weigh up on one hand what people remember and, secondly, what it'll actually be like if we do all show up. You weigh up the possibility of whether the reality is going to be better than what the memory is," he says.

Talk of a Commodores comeback has long been bandied around the group, who met at university in 1968 and signed with Motown in 1972, but Richie says convincing everyone, and working out when to do it, isn't easy. "But I promise you one thing," he says, "this may be coming up sooner than later."

If ever there was the perfect time to reform The Commodores it is now, as Richie is officially cool again. The star admits the rekindled wave of popularity he's riding is partially to do with his 27-year-old daughter, Nicole, who shot to fame in 2003 with The Simple Life. He and ex-wife Brenda adopted Nicole in 1983. "You know, back in the 1980s, my little girl was not famous and I wasn't known as 'Nicole Richie's dad'," he says.

With his daughter and her rock star boyfriend, Joel Madden from the band Good Charlotte, now parents to 1-year-old Harlow and expecting another child, he laughs even harder at the new title bestowed upon him.

"Now, I have the word 'grandfather' in my name," he booms, almost as if he's still having trouble believing it himself.

But, being granddad is a lot easier than being dad to a one-time troubled daughter, whose rumoured struggles with anorexia, heroin possession and drink driving have been well documented in the tabloid newspapers. "Now, it's Nicole coming to me saying, 'Dad, the baby's got a rash. What do I do?'

"Nicole's mum and dad have now joined that elite class where we are now complete geniuses. I love being in that position," he chuckles.

Joking aside, Richie acknowledges living such public lives is hard and he remains fiercely protective of his "little girl".

"I've told her, 'Now that now you have joined the ranks of the famous, there's a little skin you have to develop because everything you hear about yourself and everything you do is pretty much going to be manipulated in some way or another and either used for you, or against you'," he says.

If he's at all worried about the fact that the Richie family will be under the microscope yet again when his daughter's semi-autobiographical novel, The Truth About Diamonds, is made into a television series, he's not letting on.

"You know, if my mom and dad had any idea of what The Commodores did the first time they were in New Zealand, or in London, they would have never spoken to me again."

They are wise words and exactly the advice you'd expect from a man who's written some of the most memorable songs ever penned. And, while Richie's world has now taken on the kind of twist he could never have foreseen when he embarked on his solo career in 1982, he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Back in the 1980s I was still fishing around to see what I was going to do with my life. Now, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that this is what I'm going to be doing. I'm loving the discovery of self," he says.

To continue that journey, Richie says he's also had to take a good look at who he is as an artist. This has meant stepping out of his comfort zone on his latest album, Just Go, and bringing in some fresh musical talent.

"I decided to try and figure out what I sound like in 2009. So I thought I'd ask Ne-Yo, Akon and the guys from Stargate: 'You are Lionel Richie now, what does he sound like?'

"It's probably one of the most unusual albums I've done since The Commodore days because not since then have I ever done anyone else's songs."

He promises fans, however, that it's still very much a Lionel Richie album.

As much as he'd like to impart his secret to writing hits, it's not possible.

"I would love to tell you what I was thinking when I wrote Dancing On The Ceiling but it just kind of came out of me. It's like letting your body be taken over by something and if it happens, you go, 'Oh my God, where did that come from?' It's actually as much of a surprise to me as it is to you," he laughs.

But, there is something Richie says he can guarantee: "My brief stay in your beautiful country and the interaction I had with your incredibly kind people makes me want to come back as soon as it works for the promoters and my schedule. I want to complete the bond that only performing live can achieve," he says.

Lionel Richie's first studio album in more than two years, Just Go, is in stores tomorrow in New Zealand.